Aircraft components will continue to fail for as long as they adhere to the laws of physics. Engineers do their level best during the design phase to predict failure anomallies, and through testing, try and prove their assumptions. Unfortunately, they cant control the component once it leaves the factory. The components then have to prove themselves in the real world where all those unforseen, and unexpected variables will start to have an effect on the components service life.
It is for this reason that aircrew are required to do emergency and procedural competency training. Which brings me to my question: How could this have happened?! I can sort of understand if it was a single pilot in a heavily laden piston twin, in bad weather, but this just doesnt make sense!? How could this have happened? Was their training flawed? And, what can be done to prevent this from happening again?